In various agricultural and other settings, rotating machinery may be utilized. For example, rotating components may be utilized in round (or other) balers for gathering cut material from a field, forming cylindrical (or other) bales of the material within a baling chamber, and wrapping the formed bales with various types of wrap material. In certain implementations, various rollers or other devices may rotate in order to form the material into the bales within the baling chamber. In certain implementations, additional rollers or other devices may then rotate to wrap the finished bales with various materials before the bales are ejected from the baling chamber. These and other rotating components may often be supported by bearings (e.g., ball bearings, roller bearings, and so on).
Optimal bearing function and lifespan may be obtained when radial forces on the bearing generally align with the axial center of the bearing. For example, a bearing supported by (or supporting) a relatively rotating shaft may optimally perform when forces from the shaft generally align with a diametric line extending through the balls of a ball bearing. In various applications, however, uneven loading or other forces may tend to cause relatively rotating components (e.g., shafts, rollers, and so on) to deviate from a nominal axis of rotation. This deviation may result in the misalignment of forces on the supported (or supporting) bearing and, accordingly, the application of a moment to the bearings. Such a moment, for example, may cause misalignment of bearing components (e.g., bearing races), resulting in sub-optimal bearing function, excessive bearing wear, uneven seal wear, and even premature bearing failure. Further, with typical bearing designs, as a shaft (or other relatively rotating component) supporting (or supported by) a bearing deviates from its nominal alignment (e.g., due to an uneven loading or other deflection), the shaft may impose a relatively large force at (or near) the axial edge of the bearing, which may result in the imposition of a particularly large moment on the bearing. This may correspond to particularly detrimental effects on bearing performance, integrity, and lifespan.